Roll-film camera



Sept. 16, 1941.

A. SCHATZ EI'AL ROLL-FILM CAMERA Filed April 18, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet Sept. 16, 1941.

A. SCHATZ EI'AL ROLL-FILM CAMERA Filed April 18, 1959 Patented Sept. 16, 1941 ROLL-FILM CAMERA August Schatz, Josef Braun, and Rudolf Helm, Triberg, Germany Application April 18, 1939, Serial No. 268,514 In Germany September '1, 1935 13 Claims.

The present invention relates to a roll-=film camera. having a driving mechanism for feeding the film and for winding and releasing the shuttel, said driving mechanism heing actuated by means of a. spring motor and influenced by a control mechanism actuated by means of 2. release. In order to obtain a. form which is as compact and handy as possible, particularly for miniature cameras in which there is only 2. limited space available for the feeding device and the device for winding the shutter, theorrengement according to the invention is such that the shutter, together with the cases containing the two spools from and on to which the film is Wound, and the spring motor, are disposed one behind the other at the rear of the lens and that both the control mechanism influenced by the release as well as the driving mechanism driven by the spring motor are disposed in not chamber adjacent one of the side wells of the camera.

A metallic sliding shutter may he disposed ad= iacent the lnsideof the front wall of the housing which carries the release, said housing having its longer aids parallel to the optical oi the camera and its shorter axis transversely thereof. A particularly satisfactory utilization of the space sesults when the driving mechanism, driven by the spring motor and designed as a flat train of gears, together with the control mechanism is seporated from the interior oi the camera by means of a partition wall which at the some time acts as a mounting for the driving and controlling members, and when the control mechanism is adapted to regulate both the unwinding oi. the train of gears for ieeding the film forward as well as the winding and unwinding of the shutter by means of a flat system of levers for each operation.

The invention is illustrated by way of example in theecoompanying drawings wherein:

Figure 1 illustrates a plan view of the camera with part the housing broken away.

Figure 2 is a. section on the line IIH of Figure 1.

Figures 3 and 3a are views of the set of levers. Fig. 3a shows the levers in the position of rest and Fig. 3 shows the levers when released.

The horseshoe-shaped housing I of the camera carries, in its flat iront'wsll 2, a. lens 3 of any desired design the'reer opening 01 which is covered or uncovered by means of a. sliding shutter l located in the interior of the camera. The sliding shutter itself. forms no part of the present invention, so there is no necessity to describe it here in detail. The sliding shutter may for example be designed as described and illustrated in German Patent 90,399. The release 5 which in this case is designed as e. push-button passes through the front wall 2 of the camera and is movable in the direction of the exposure.

The driving mechanism comprises a spring motor s, vwhich can he wound by means of a key I through the geerwheel 9 connected to the shaft 8 of the motor 6 end the gearwheel ll held by the pawl it the sold key I being located on the outsideof the camera housing. The spring motor 8 acts both by moons of the apertaining gearwheel 12 which is connected to the housing and the further transmission gearwheels l3, l4 and it upon the driving geerwheel l6 mounted on the pin M which carries the spool on to which the film. is wound, and also by means of the starwheel ill, which is also connected to the housing, upon the lever mechanism for rewinding the shutter. The spool itself on to which the film is wound forms no part of the present invention, so there is no need to describe it in detail here. For the purpose of connecting the pin ll to the aforesaid spool, the said pin is provided at its free end with e. iorl: lid, in which a. transverse pin provided on the spool may mesh when thespool is inserted, so that when the pin ll rotates the spool also rotates.

The gearwheei it, the shaft of which extends into the interior of the camera housing and forms the supporting and. driving pin H for the spool on to which the film is wound, meshes also with e gearwheel i3, on the shaft of which there is mounted a disc 28 having a notch H in which a. projection 22 of 21 control lever 23 may engage. fit one end of said control lever 23 there is located e, stop face 2G cooperating with a notch 25 upon an arresting disc 25. On the shaft of the arresting disc 26 there is located a gearwheel 21 cooperating with a. gearwheel 28, on the shaft of which there is mounted a gearwheel' 29 meshing with a gearwheel Silprcvided upon the shaft of the notched disc 20.

The control lever 23 is pivotable about a pivot pin 3! and is pressed against a pin 33 by means oi a. small spring 32, said pin 33 being located at one end of a short actuating lever 34. Said lever 34 carries at the other end a. iurther pin 35, against which bears an arresting lever 31 which is also pivot-able about the pivot pin 3| and under the influence 01 a small spring 36, the other end of said arresting lever 31 possessing a stop face 35 which can be moved in the path of the notch 25 upon the arresting disc 2.

The actuating-lever I4 pivotable about a. pivot 2 and, we

pin Ed is provided with a pin All actuating an arrest surface 42 of the safety lever dd being pivotable about the pin it and being influenced by arm a. roller 48 which engages the starwhe'el is.

The longer arm oi the winding lever ti is provided with a pin 49 which retains the sliders of this shutter 6. under tension, the sliders lying one behind the other. In its position of-rest the pm 59 of the tensioning lever l'l engages behind the nose 5| of the safety lever as and retains the shutter under tension.

The longer arm of the tensioning lever ti is in addition provided with a pawl 53 pivotable about the pivot point 52 and held in engagement with the teeth of a gear wheel 55 by means of a small spring 54, said gear wheel acting as a mum ber disc.

The-spools from'and on to which the is wound are located in special cases which are adapted to be mounted on the two pins ii and H, the pivotabiepin i'l acting as drive for the spool on to which the film is to be wound as aforesaid.

The driving mechanism works in the manner hereinafter described, it being assumed that a full film case has been inserted in the camera housing, that the cover I thereof is closed and that the spring motor 6 has been wound by means of the key I. a

' When the push button t is depressed for the purpose of making an exposure, the actuit is set, whilst in the case of a bulb exposure the shutter is not closed until the push-button 5 is released.

After the exposure of the film, that is to say during the return motion of the push-button s to its initial position the 11m moves forward and the shutter is rewound in the following manner.

g to the return motion of the pushbutton 5 the levers 23 and 3? are allowed to return to their initial position. Iihe lever 37 thus disenga es from the notch 25 on the arresting disc 26 so that the train of gears may ating lever 38 is pivoted about its pivoting point do, and thus acts by means of the pins 33 and 85 arranged thereon, upon the control lever fis-and the arresting lever 81 so as to pivot the said two levers in the opposite direction about their common pivoting point 8i. As

, a result of this the control lever 23, which in its position of rest bears with its stop face 26 oppositethe notch 25 of the arresting disc 2G, moves outwardly until ts 8150p face t 18 rel ased from thenotch 25 and its projection 22 leaves the notch 28 of the disc it. At that S01E31 the train of gears which is under the action of the spring motor 8 would unwind-but; for the fact that in the meantime the arresting lever 37 which is. moved simultaneously with the lever 23 but in the opposite direction, reaches a position in whichits stop face as lies in the path of the notch 23; The cam disc EB lying behind the notched disc fiii and being influenced by the action of a spring 51 now has the opportunity to rotate clockwise through a few degrees, thereby masking the notch 21! in the disc 2d. Thereby the 'nose 22 of the lever 23 is prevented from entering the notch 29.

In this position of the parts the train of gears is arrested, so long as the push-button remains depressed.

g the depressing of the push-button 5 I the safety lever, ispivoted about the point to simultaneously with the lever 36, until its cam St is disengaged from the pin so on the -ten-= sioning lever si. At-that moment the tensioning lever 67 is allowed to pivot under the action of the spring Bu. As a result of this pivoting the tensioning lever 4i disengages from the sliders of the shutter 4 which until then ithad retained under tension, so that an opening of the shutter and thus also an exposure of the film are effected..- When the shutter is set to instan taneous exposure the shutter closes 'autotically at the end of the exposure period to which the film on said spool, a spring motor, a gear are rewound by means of the pin se. camera is thus ready for the next exposure without the necessity for actuating special devices for rewinding the shutter and feeding the unwind until the projection 22 of the control lever 28, which during the unwinding of the train of gears slides over the circular periphery of the cam disc 20, again snaps into the notch by the aid of the star wheel i8 which is firmly connected to'the ho oi the spring motor 6; When the geartrain unwinds, during which time also the spring motor housing rotates, the star wheel 58 is rotated cloc for a certain. distance. During this rotation the tooth or the star wheel is which lies behind the pin as which is mounted on the lever 31 and is moved obliquely inwardly during the pivoting oi the said lever .il, is returned obliquely outwardly and as a result, returns'the lever 41 to its initial position in which the winding lever Q? is retained owing to the fact that the pin 50 on the lever ll is then again returned to itsposition behind the cam 5! of the. lever $6. During the return motion of the lever t? the sliders of the shutter The film. forward.

On one sidewall of the cera housing there is arranged the gearwheel' 55 which, after each exposure,- is moved forward by one toothby meof the pawl 53 when the lever ll moves. 0n the side of the gearwheel t5 adjacent, the said sidewall or the camera are provided figures which successively appear in a small window and indicate the number of film sections which have been automatically moved forward.

What we cl is:

l. A roll-film cera including a housir lens, a tensioned type lhutter supported in said housing behind said lens, rotatable, means for engagement with a spool whereby to feed train means between said spring motor and said rotatable means, shutter release means for relebly holding said tensioned shutter in tensioned condition and movable to release said shutter, and a pair of crossed levers biased to pivot in opposite directions about a common pivot, means with said levers to tension the shutter and. to return the shutter release means to holding position, means on said shutter release means for engaging said levers whereby to reverse the same upon movement of said shutter relew'e means to release said shutter, stop means on said gear train, one end of the first of said levers being normally .1 against said stop as er-2a means, the ,co end-oi the other lever being engageable' with said step means ,upon reversaioi said levers whereby to lock said gear train means and said motor against operation until after release of said shutter, and rotatable abutment means rotatable with said gear train and engageable'with said first lever upon movement away from position of repose whereby to prevent return thereor alter return otfsaid shutter release means to its first position until rotation of said gear train diseng'ages said abutment means from said lever. 2. A roll-film camera as claimed in claim the first lever having a nose thereon, the rotatable abutment means comprising a wheel having an indentation in the edge thereof, for accommodating said nose whereby to allow said first lever to engage said stop'mechanism, a cam disk rotatably mounted adjacent said wheel, and a spring engaged between said cam disk and said wheel and normally tending to swing said cam, disk to mask said notch whereby to engage said nose to prevent said lever from entering said notch until rotation of said wheel relative to said cam disk and said nose unmasks said notch and brings-said notch opposite said nose.

3. In a roll-film camera including'ahousing, a

lens, a fensioned type shutter supported in said housing, a roll :lllm support, a spring motor, film feeding means. geared to said motor. and a control mechanism tor operating said motor after a picture is taken; operating means for said shutter comprising a lever pivotally supported in said casing and engageable at one end with said shutter to drive said shutter, spring means operably engaged'between said lever and said casing whereby to tension said lever to pivot in a shutter driving direction, manually operable catch means mounted in said casing and engageable with said lever to hold the same in tensioned position, and one-way transmission means separateirom the dim ieeding meam between said motor and said lever for driving said lever towards said catch means, comprising a pin on said lever and a star wheel rotatably supported in said casing adjacent said pin and driven by said motor, said lever being pivotally supported on a pivot eccentric with respect to the axis of fatstion of said star wheel, the arrangement being suchthat the tooth surfaces 01 saidstarwheei slidingly engage withsaid pin to earn said lever towardssaidcatch,andsothatthepointsoisaid star wheel pass said pin when said lever is engaged with said catch.

AUGUST BCHATZ. JOBII' BRAUN. RUDD: ma. 

